Jon Scholes, President and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, shares what downtown businesses have done to help unsheltered residents and why they’ve committed resources to addressing the challenge.

Mike Slade, founding partner at Second Ave Partners, gives his take on Seattle’s business climate and the efforts of the city to continue growing.

The interviews give you perspectives on why and how business leaders could get involved in chipping away at the homelessness crisis.

Host, Jeff Shulman, also shared updates on his upcoming feature-length documentary, On the Brink, which features several guests from earlier seasons of Seattle Growth Podcast in a story of history, hope, and determination.

More information about today’s guests:

Jon Scholes is President and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), overseeing the activities of the 2,000-member organization and the operations of the Metropolitan Improvement District. Previously, Jon was Vice President of Advocacy and Economic Development for the DSA. Jon has spent seventeen years working in nonprofit advocacy, local government and in senior positions on political campaigns at the regional and state levels. Jon served for more than five years as Chief of Staff to King County Councilmember Julia Patterson.

The Downtown Seattle Association is a member-based non-profit organization whose mission is to create a healthy, vibrant downtown. By advocating on issues including transportation, economic development and the urban experience, DSA works to ensure that downtown remains a great place to live, work, shop and play.

Mike Slade co-founded Second Avenue Partners in 2000. He began his career at Microsoft, where he introduced world renowned products such as Excel and Microsoft Office. Slade was hired as CEO of Starwave in 1993, where he launched ESPN.COM, NBA.COM, ABCNews.com and several other well-known properties. Slade has lived in Seattle for several decades.

Today’s episode of Seattle Growth Podcast features one of the most candid interviews about life on the streets. Timothy opens up about how he found himself homeless, why he chooses to live in Seattle and what life is like on the streets. He gives a surprising answer to how society is failing the homeless and makes a simple request of listeners.

Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien also appears in the episode. He shares where he believes the city can improve in how it deals with its vehicular residents. Councilmember O’Brien also discusses what it was like to be at the center of the infamous Ballard Town Hall, which was reported as turning “into an angry shoutfest.”

The episode also announces the trailer for an upcoming feature length documentary produced by Seattle Growth Podcast’s Jeff Shulman. On the Brink tells an important part of Seattle’s history in a story of hope and determination. Follow the Facebook page to see the trailer and be among the first to hear updates on screenings.

Today’s episode of Seattle brings you behind the scenes of City Hall in an interview with Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda. Councilmember Mosqueda shares her thinking about the controversial “head tax” and what she learned from how the process of enacting then repealing the tax unfolded. She also shares her vision for how the city could improve its response to the homelessness crisis.

The episode also features an interview with a UW professor who experienced homelessness herself before becoming an academic expert on the topic.

Josephine Ensign is professor of nursing and adjunct professor in the School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is the author of the medical memoir Catching Homelessness: A Nurse’s Story of Falling Through the Safety Net, winner of the American Journal of Nursing 2017 Book of the Year Award. She is author of the nonfiction book Soul Stories: Voices from the Margins, recently published by the University of California Medical Humanities Press. She is director of the Doorway Project, a community-campus partnership (with YouthCare) creatively addressing housing and food insecurity and promoting wellness for young people in the U District. The next Doorway pop-up café community event is Friday, August 24 noon-4pm at Street Bean Café and the University Branch of the Seattle Public Library on Roosevelt. Everyone is welcome. UW students have established a gofundme site to support the pay-it-forward model of the Doorway Café.

Seattle Growth Podcast host Jeff Shulman set across the city interviewing established and emerging musicians, music lovers, and music industry leaders to learn more about the past, present, and future of Seattle music. In this season finale, voices from this season share why music is embedded in Seattle’s DNA, give insight into the soul of the not just the music scene but the city as a whole, and offer perspectives on what needs to be done to hold on to the rich cultural resource.

This episode includes insights from:

David Armstrong Armstrong served as the Executive Producer and Artistic Director of 5th Ave Theatre for 18 years and will soon be launching his own podcast “The Musical Man.”

Dave B. Dave B performed in front of a sold out Key Arena and with Macklemore on The Tonight Show.

Andre Brown Brown is a recent graduate of the University of Washington’s School of Drama.

Levi and Stephanie Ware Through their work streaming live concerts to children in hospitals with Melodic Caring Project, they have continually witnessed the incredible power that music and intentional compassion has to profoundly impact the emotional, physical and mental health of kids battling serious and/or chronic illness. Joy and hope are powerful medicine and they’ve seen music provide both.

Did you that know nine of the seventeen new musicals produced in Executive Producer David Armstrong’s tenure at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre went from this Seattle stage to Broadway and that two of them won the Tony award for Best Musical? As the fourth season of Seattle Growth Podcast examines the past, present, and future of the Seattle music scene, the city’s vibrant musical theater scene merits attention.

David Armstrong, who has served as the Executive Producer and Artistic Director for 5th Avenue Theatre for almost two decades describes how the city is getting national recognition for musical theater. Armstrong shares how the city is both producing and drawing in top flight musical theater talent. Armstrong also gives unique insight into how the city’s growth is affecting the business of the storied theater.

Two of the talented actors who were drawn to be a part of Seattle’s musical theater community open up about their transition to the city. Porscha Shaw, who was named by KUOW as one of the Seattle artists you should know about, tells the story of how she has begun her ride to prominence. Andre Brown shares what is happening in Seattle that facilitates the creation of art across various mediums. Both give further insight into the soul of the Seattle music scene.

This episode gives an inside look at a musical theater community that serves as a key aspect of Seattle’s vibrant art and culture.

Today’s episode gives rare insight into the economics and emotional journey associated with becoming a professional musician in Seattle. With money and people moving into the city, this episode focuses on some of the musicians the city stands to lose as economics of a recording artists change. You will hear the voice of a musician who has moved away from the city, two musicians who anticipate moving soon, and a musician whose successful band has gone on hiatus.

The episode gives further perspective on the soul of Seattle’s music scene and how the community is evolving as the city transforms.

Money and people are moving into Seattle at an unprecedented rate. The city is clearly undergoing a physical transformation as a nation-leading number of cranes dot the sky. Is there a cultural transformation underway as well? Has the music scene that grabbed the nation’s attention during the 1990s grunge era maintained its identity?

Three voices in today’s Seattle music scene share their perspective on the culture of Seattle music and how it is changing in recent years.

The episode features:

Austin Santiago, owner of BuildStrong Music Group which has been curating concerts and music culture in Cascadia since 2005 and Vice President at Do206, a website dedicated to highlighting live events in the area.

The voices give insight into the current identity and trajectory of Seattle’s music scene. For comparison, the episode also includes quotes from previous guests including legendary Seattle radio personality Marco Collins, former Grammy executive Ben London, and platinum selling band member Jason Finn.

This episode gives unique insight into the process of becoming a musician in Seattle. It provides a window into the evolving culture of the city that spans beyond music and it gives you a chance to meet some of the talented artists in Seattle.

Featuring the song Show Me The Stars by Lydia Ramsey and the song Vengeance (Will Be Mine) by Prom Queen.

Today’s episode gives you a rare inside look at the journey a Seattle hip-hop artist takes in the ride to prominence. The two guests also put to words the range of emotions many people are feeling as the city of Seattle undergoes a rapid transformation.

Draze, who has opened for Snoop Dogg and had his music appear on hit shows such as Empire, shares how Seattle’s transformation has affected his music and him personally.

You will also hear from Dave B, who collaborated with Macklemore on the hit song Corner Store, performed in front of a sold-out Key Arena, was seen on national tv performing on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, and recently headlined his own sold-out show at Seattle’s Neptune Theater.

Featuring the songs “The Hood Ain’t the Same” by Draze and “Sweetest Thing” by Dave B.

This episode of Seattle Growth Podcast continues its brief look at Seattle’s rich musical history. In today’s episode, Janie Hendrix (CEO of Experience Hendrix) shares how the city’s growth has affected her efforts to honor the legacy of Seattle-born rock and roll legend Jimi Hendrix. You will learn more about the continued impact Jimi Hendrix has on Seattle today.

The episode also features an interview with inaugural Seattle Music Commissioner DeVon Manier. Manier is cofounder of Sportn’ Life Music Group and works with Seattle artists such as the Black Tones and Future Shock. He shares stories from his time developing hip-hop artists at the turn of the century and what drove him to participate in the Seattle Music Commission.

The interviews give listeners a glimpse into Seattle’s musical past and provides insight into what the future holds for our growing city.

The fourth season of Seattle Growth Podcast brings together diverse perspectives from established and emerging artists, music lovers and music industry leaders to paint a picture of the past, present, and future of Seattle’s iconic music scene.

This second episode of the season continues last week’s focus on Seattle’s music community during the 1990s. Whereas Seattle had produced many notable musical artists in prior years, the sounds from the 1990s were distinctly recognized across the globe as emanating from this city.

The episode features singer-songwriter Ben London who began his Seattle music career while the Seattle sound, grunge, was exploding nationally. London went on to serve on the development team for the Experience Music Project (now known as MoPOP), to serve as an executive at the Grammys, and to serve as the inaugural chair of the Seattle Music Commission. You will hear what it was like to be “a footnote of flannel” during the Seattle grunge era and to do “all the things that other bands did, except…not sell millions of records.”

The episode also features Marco Collins, an influential radio DJ during the early 1990s who record executives from around the world turned to for insight into who would be the next big thing in music.The subject of his own documentary “The Glamour and the Squalor” opens up about what it was like to rub shoulders with Seattle’s rock stars, to help catapult bands to national prominence, and to have the whole world watching what was coming out of Seattle.

These two voices help paint a picture of a unique time in Seattle’s music history and provide insight into the city’s future.